Bone marrow involvement in adult soft tissue sarcomas.

Bone marrow biopsy was performed as part of the initial assessment in 74 patients with soft tissue sarcoma. Infiltration of the marrow by tumour was present in four cases, all from the group of 56 patients who had other evidence of metastatic disease, giving an overall incidence of 7%. The histological subtypes were pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma, synovial sarcoma and myxoid liposarcoma, of which the first three were high-grade tumours. Although it was not possible to determine whether response to chemotherapy was influenced by marrow involvement, haematological toxicity seemed excessive.